The mansion they finally arrived at with weary bodies was far more magnificent and stately than even Mabelwood Mansion.
Glailly House. This mansion, with over a hundred rooms beside a large lake and forest, opened twenty of its rooms and the main hall to the public. Tourists who had been touring in ti for the evening poked their heads out when they heard the count had returned, then left outside following the guidance of the employees.
"You're late, Count."
"It just happened that way. Esperanza, this is Coleman, the mansion's butler. Coleman, this is my ward, Miss Esperanza Hunter."
"I've heard much about you, Miss Hunter. I sincerely welco you to Avondale. I hope you'll stay comfortably."
"Nice to et you, Coleman."
When Millen and Annie brought down the modest luggage, Coleman raised his white eyebrows.
"Count, even setting aside your luggage, isn't the lady's luggage too little?"
Esperanza went "Oh!" and took out five luggage boxes from her inventory. Coleman's calm eyes widened as if they would pop out.
"What on earth is this... Count, surely you haven't done sothing terrible to the lady?"
"Sothing terrible?"
She couldn't understand how the conversation suddenly jumped from here to there. Esperanza just rolled her eyes, unable to keep up with the proper-looking butler's imagination capabilities. What did inventory have to do with doing sothing terrible?
"Coleman, you did prepare that room properly, right? It's a room where the lady will stay, so there should be no problems."
Though it was an out-of-the-blue statent, Coleman nodded as if he understood sothing.
"Yes, of course. Ah, I wasn't referring to 'that kind of' terrible thing. The previous count taught
well. This old man believes without doubt that the count is an excellent gentleman."
"I understand your concern. Miss Hunter is providing small assistance to my research. Of course, within 'appropriate and legal' bounds."
Cider smiled warmly. As if mocking the bewildered butler.
"Since it's late, you must have prepared dinner? Esperanza, you must be tired, but let's eat first before resting."
That would be more convenient for the servants too. Otherwise, they'd have to wait helplessly until the master washed up, ca down, and finished eating.
"What was that about earlier?"
Once the employees who had finished preparing the al retreated outside the dining room, Esperanza asked in a lowered voice.
"You an Coleman? He was just surprised because you showed him sothing amazing. He probably thought I had dissected you or sothing."
Aha. So even in his own territory, he hears such things. Esperanza, who had been nodding, raised a reasonable suspicion.
"...Do you have a record?"
"I've never dissected a living person."
I think we've had this conversation before. She asked while poking at her salad with a fork.
"You said you weren't interested in biology."
Cider frowned as if feeling wronged.
"I'm interested in magical theory. It's a basic discipline. There are parts where biological knowledge applies to magical engineering too... But who brought up dissection talk during a al?"
"You did."
Did I? Cider tilted his head and picked up his glass.
"Then I was wrong."
The two focused on their al in silence again. When their plates were nearly empty, Esperanza asked.
"What's the plan going forward?"
"Well. First, conducting various experints to increase your mobility would be the urgent priority. Then when we have ti, I'll take you around the city, go for walks, and horseback riding."
"What's the most worth seeing here?"
To that question, Cider shalessly replied.
"My laboratory."
"Ah, I see."
"It's nothing special. Just a small city. Worth looking around the streets. Shall we get up since we've finished eating? Let's rest for today, and tomorrow I'll give you a tour of the mansion."
Esperanza suddenly recalled when she first fell into the Avondale mansion in Nine Holder.
'...Hmm. Not that ruin.'
The naless Lord Avondale had left the suddenly appeared Esperanza to Mrs. Lux. He didn't show his face until the afternoon of the next day, and Mrs. Lux had given her the mansion tour. It wasn't that this was wrong. It was natural, if anything. However, during the nearly half year that passed since then, they had gotten to know each other and grown closer.
"You've really changed a lot."
To her unconscious murmur, Cider asked back without surprise or confusion.
"Have I? Why do you think I've changed?"
"Uh..."
When she rolled her eyes and trailed off, Cider, who got up from his seat as if he hadn't expected an answer from the beginning, tilted his head and added.
"I don't know if you realize it, but you've changed just as much."
Esperanza blinked slowly. Relationships are about two people wearing each other down and becoming familiar. If one changed, it was natural for the other to change too, yet she felt strangely new about it.
Have I changed too?
"I hadn't thought about that. I suppose so."
"Then why do you think you changed?"
Once again, she was left speechless. She knew the answer but didn't want to tell him when he asked so directly. She felt like she couldn't handle the atmosphere after putting that answer out there. Esperanza pretended not to know and kept her mouth firmly shut.
??????°??☆????°??????
No footsteps could be heard in the carpeted corridor. Two shadows overlapping like paintings on the walls lit by gas lamps slowly crossed the corridor.
This was a private space only for the Count family mbers, not open to outsiders. When they had just entered here, Butler Coleman had said with a proud voice that the apartnt where the Claiborne family mbers stayed was completely cut off from the public space and was as spacious as any decent mansion. Cider had given a criticism that wasn't quite a criticism, saying "Anyone would think it's your mansion."
Though it was full sumr, the evening air was chilly, and the stone walls were even colder. When the cold wind brushed her cheek, Esperanza suddenly raised her head.
"Oh, are we here already?"
"Yes. This is the room."
"You ca all the way here because of ? You should have just said we'd arrived."
"It was on the way. My bedroom is at the end of this corridor."
So, it's the sa floor. Apartnts located on the sa floor, sa corridor. This had never happened at the Avondale mansion, let alone at Mabelwood mansion. Strictly speaking, there was no reason for it.
"See you tomorrow."
While Esperanza was pondering why the room assignnt was done this way, Cider entered his room at the end of the corridor without looking back. Esperanza stared blankly at his broad back disappearing, then grabbed the doorknob.
Co to think of it, Cider had said sothing about this room too.
'Coleman, you did prepare that room properly, right? It's a room where the lady will stay, so there should be no problems.'
For having said that, the room wasn't particularly special. Except that it had a small living room attached and was very large in size.
The cozy living room and the considerably large bedroom compared to it had fresh decorations that seed suitable for a young lady in her early twenties and a good view. Though it was evening now so the outside was barely visible, in the morning sunlight would fill the room.
Annie must have visited during dinner, as luggage was neatly organized in the drawers and wardrobe. Going through a passage without a door to the next room, there was a small, pretty study, and beyond that was a bathroom with a hot water machine installed. When she operated the machine, black magic stones glowed and gears turned. Hot water poured out from brass pipes.
'Did he prepare this room for this?'
If that was the case, he had been considerate of places she hadn't even thought of. Sitting with her knees together in the steam-filled bathroom, Esperanza once again recalled the first day. Half a year. Already half a year had passed.
After finishing her bath and coming out with wet hair wrapped in a towel, Esperanza lay on the bed and blinked. She giggled rembering the first day when she had crouched under the bed counting money. Now that unfamiliar room felt like Esperanza's real room, and this place felt like a hotel she was staying at while traveling. She already missed that room.
"I'm bored."
She glanced at the window with her eyes. Since it was night anyway and she wouldn't run into anyone, she briefly thought about going out to look around the nightti city. But the drowsiness that soon washed over her scattered her thoughts.
There would be plenty of ti to look around the city anyway…
??????°??☆????°??????
The next morning, Esperanza discovered a card neatly placed on the bedside table.
By the ti you read this, I'll be at the laboratory. If you want, co here too. There's sothing I want to show you without hiding it from you.
As a sign of firm trust and unchanging affection.
I won't be able to co out to et you, so ask Coleman or the head maid Mrs. Denver for directions.
There's a locking device at the laboratory's main entrance. The password is the eight-digit date of the day we first t. The locking device will explode if you fail three tis, so be careful.
Note: Just in case you don't know. This year is 1837.>
"I know this year is 1837. But the day I first ca here..."
When was that?
Esperanza, who had been pondering, rang the bell at the head of the bed. Annie, who ca in rubbing her eyes, asked.
"How may I help you, Miss?"
"Do you have a calendar?"
"Pardon?"
Annie blinked. A mont later, she brought a large calendar saying she got it from Coleman, but Esperanza's conclusion was still that she didn't know. She asked Annie, but Annie could only give the answer "I think it's been about half a year."
"He should have made it sothing easier."
She absolutely couldn't find it. It would be nice if she could narrow it down to within three days, but there were more dates she could guess than that. Eventually, Esperanza, who searched through notification windows for the first ti in a while, scrolled up more than a full month to find the date when the quest notification first appeared.
Butler Coleman, whom she t on her way down to the stable with just the letter, asked.
"Miss, where are you going? I polished the piano thinking you might be interested..."
While she appreciated the thought, she had sowhere to go today, and she wasn't interested in a piano she hadn't played for over ten years. Esperanza waved the letter and answered.
"Lord Avondale's laboratory. As you can see, he personally invited ."
She added this in case Esperanza might think she was bothering Cider for no reason, but Coleman kept rubbing his eyes behind his monocle as he read and reread the middle part of the letter Esperanza showed him. The old man, whose gaze had been circling around the word 'laboratory' for a while before looking up, asked with a deathly pale face.
"Miss, do you know what kind of place that is before going there?"
"Isn't it a laboratory? I've seen him research several tis so it's fine. I don't understand it anyway even if I see it."
"I'll tell you the way since the count told
to show you the directions, but... prepare your heart."
The butler's grave face was as if Esperanza had said she was going to a place she could never return from. Did I just say I was going not to this house owner's personal laboratory but to a demon's den?
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